Ukraine faces ammunition crisis as air defence missiles dwindle

Ukraine is running so low on ammunition that it will run out of air defence missiles to defend its cities by the end of the month, according to reports. 

Supplies of missiles defending cities such as Odesa – where 20 people were killed on Friday – are dwindling fast, according to Ukrainian sources quoted by The Washington Post. 

That means that instead of trying to shoot down four out of five Russian missiles as it does now, Ukraine will soon have to ration its air defence systems to shooting down just one in five. 

This will have a “significant effect on Ukraine’s urban centres”, The Washington Post quoted two Ukrainian officials as telling US officials at a security conference this year.

Politicians in the US are locked in a fierce debate on whether to maintain military aid to Ukraine, which currently stands at around £31.3 billion.

This week Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minister, said that Donald Trump, the presumed Republican candidate at this year’s US presidential election had told him that he would not give any more cash to Ukraine. 

The warning comes as Russia ramps up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine. A “double tap” missile strike on Odesa on Friday killed 20 people, the heaviest death toll of the war on a single day in Ukraine’s main port city. 

Several emergency workers were killed by a second barrage of Russian Iskander-M missiles as they responded to an initial strike. Photographs from the attack showed the dead body of a paramedic near a badly damaged ambulance.

Russian officials have said they know Ukraine is running out of ammunition and have decided that this is the time to strike. Along the frontlines in Donbas, Moscow’s forces have continued to push back and outgunned Ukrainian forces who have complained of dwindling stocks of shells. 

However, Rybar, a Russian Telegram channel linked to the Russian Ministry of Defence, said Ukrainian forces were still putting up stiff resistance and appeared to be relatively well-armed.

“The enemy has an abundance of drones. Not only vehicles and armoured vehicles, but even individual soldiers are subject to drops and strikes from first-person view drones, which indicates that there is no shortage of weapons,” it said. 

Ukrainian forces have reportedly been hastily digging new trenches and erecting anti-tank traps to slow the Russian advance and to counter criticism that they had failed to plan their defences properly during their counter-offensive last year.